


the fight’s beginning

by Lire_Casander



Series: can't close my eyes anymore [1]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29920236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lire_Casander/pseuds/Lire_Casander
Summary: michael has been in albuquerque for three days when he notices that someone is, most probably, following him around
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: can't close my eyes anymore [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200275
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	the fight’s beginning

**Author's Note:**

> beta’ed by [manesalex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/manesalex)
> 
> title from _higher_ by parachute
> 
> written for anon who asked for **_stalking_** from my [Bad Things Happen Bingo Card](https://lire-casander.tumblr.com/post/626174763915722752/welcome-to-my-very-own-bad-things-happen-bingo)

The streets are packed as Michael navigates them on a busy Wednesday afternoon, barely avoiding colliding with a mother and her toddler as he dives for one specific alleyway, grabbing at the messenger bag dangling from his shoulder for dear life. He doesn’t really understand where so many people come from on a weekday, but he's not about to dwell on that when he needs all his time and energy to focus on his exams. He misses running into an old man who's stopped in front of a shop window, but in the commotion he clumsily elbows another passerby. Michael mumbles an apology and keeps walking, cursing the good weather under his breath. He sighs as he keeps on walking, thinking about how, sooner rather than later, he will be back on Roswell, back with Alex. He’s only been in town for three days, getting very little sleep in between studying for and taking exams, and he’s supposed to remain here at least until Saturday morning — he would love to have a few words with whoever thought that it would be fine to schedule an exam at five on a Friday, when he’s got a three-hour drive back home.

Albuquerque isn’t his favorite place in the world, at least when he has an actual home to go back to these days — something he never thought he’d have, if he’s being honest with himself. He’s never been one to give up easily, but after years of being tossed around like a tennis ball by a system that never paid him any attention, Michael had grown used to the feeling of never belonging. Then he’d met Alex Manes, and his world had been rocked in a way he’d never thought could be possible.

Ten years of destroyed dreams had made him give up on hope — a whole decade of missing the only person who’s ever felt like home to him had turned Michael into a bitter puddle of anger. He’s not proud of his darkest years, and within time he’s learned to forgive himself for the things he was responsible for — he’s learned not to hold himself accountable for those events that he couldn’t control.

Michael is quite distracted as he enters a coffee shop he found on his first trip to Albuquerque — when he drove all the way there with Alex to visit the campus and learn all he needed to know about attending online classes to become an agricultural engineer. The place is nice and quiet, a sharp contrast from the noisy streets. Michael needs the silence to appease the voices in his head, now that he doesn’t have Alex to help him and that music is out of the question while he’s trying to study for his exam in three hours. He gets in line and orders his coffee, paying with some crumpled bills and looking for a spot as secluded as possible. He flops down onto a chair at a table by the far end of the coffee shop and takes out his notes. Michael thinks he’s memorized almost everything, but he still feels like studying the flashcards Alex helped him make for one last time — for the _seventeenth_ time, his mind supplies — won’t do any harm. He sips from his mug as he spreads some of the cards on the table in front of him.

He doesn’t notice the man staring at him at first, so engrossed in the different equations sprawled in front of him, too busy berating himself for not seeing a mistake in one of the formulas before his eyes. But on the rare occasion that he looks up from his flashcards, Michael catches someone staring at him. It’s not weird, in the beginning, so he doesn’t really pay the man any mind; but then, when he centers his attention back to his notes, there’s a nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him he's being watched. Michael tries to shake the feeling — it's been a long time since they dismantled Project Shepherd, and even longer since Greg killed the monster — but old habits die hard and he finds himself looking up again. 

This time, the man looks away as soon as he realizes what Michael is doing. 

Michael frowns. He isn’t sure whether or not he's imagining things, but he doesn’t like the dread pooling in his gut. The stranger seems familiar, as though Michael has seen him somewhere else, and it takes him a moment to remember. _It’s the man I ran into when I tried not to hit that old man on the street_ , he thinks. _It could just be a coincidence_ , he muses to himself. Michael manages to focus back again on his Chem test, his flashcards still scattered in front of him as he inwardly repeats some of the concepts, but somehow his eyes stray from the words he’s memorized by heart until he’s surreptitiously looking at the man, who’s now drinking from a mug and pointedly making sure that Michael doesn’t notice him staring.

But Michael notices. He’s spent too long in the system — too long being hunted down by a military branch going rogue — _not_ to see the signs when they’re in front of him.

He fishes for his phone. There’s a few notifications, mainly from Isobel wishing him luck on his exams and reminding him to call her from time to time — _don’t be a stranger, Michael_ , she told him once, _now that you’re finally on the road of being happy, don’t cut me off, okay?_ as if he could ever not talk to his sister — and then there’s a message blurb from Alex. He clicks on it, opening the app to a picture of his boyfriend with a guitar on his lap and the line _missing you so i wrote you a song_ , and Michael doesn’t think it’s physically possible to love and miss anyone more than he misses and loves Alex Manes.

Forgetting all about the weird man sitting across the coffee shop, Michael gathers his flashcards and puts them back into his messenger bag. He grabs the mug and stands up, sauntering towards the counter and dropping it on the surface with a smile that matches the waitressʼ. He doesn’t pay any attention to the man, too busy reading Alex’s reply and clicking on the screen to FaceTime with him. He takes out his Bluetooth earplugs and secures them in place, not willing to miss a single word from Alex. 

Michael walks the streets talking to Alex, trying to keep it as PG-rated as possible until he reaches the building where his exam for today is taking place. He keeps talking to Alex as he enters the space, climbing the stairs two at a time and stopping right outside the classroom. He checks the clock on his screen, Alex reassuring him that he’s on time, but Michael can’t shake the uneasiness from his limbs. He blames it on the nerves for the exam, and says goodbye to Alex promising he’ll call right after the exam is done. With forty-five minutes still to spare, he decides to walk towards the big windows in the corridor. It’s a beautiful day outside, and he’d rather be outside on the green grass with Alex than taking an exam. But since Alex is not there, Michael wants nothing more than to finish all his college stuff to go back home to his boyfriend. He takes in the scenery — the students lounging outside, the laughs that reach his ears, the breeze that moves the trees — and he’s startled to find the same man from the coffee shop leaning into one of the tree trunks, sunglasses on and stance relaxed.

Michael is beginning to think it isn’t a coincidence anymore, but he can’t dwell too much on it with his exam looming over him. He isn’t sure who might want to stalk him this way — if he’s being honest, it’s kind of a _sloppy_ way to follow someone, if said someone picks up on what’s going on so easily — but he wracks his mind nonetheless, trying to find a reason why this man seems to be in the same places as Michael is today. With Project Shepherd dismantled and Deep Sky buried six feet under, they all thought they were safe.

Watching subtly out of the window once again, Michael feels like safety might be a luxury he will never be granted.

The halls are soon filled with students loudly studying the last few concepts before the test, and Michael is pulled back from his musings by the sound of a few of his classmates rounding up around him with last-minute questions. He is grateful for the distraction, as it forces him to push the image of the stranger back into the deepest parts of his brain to look at later on.

Later on happens to be quite sooner than anticipated.

Michael exits the classroom after a test he’s fairly sure he’s aced _again_ , and promptly calls Alex as he promised. It’s only been an hour and a half, but the feeling of missing his boyfriend is deeply ingrained in his soul — after years and years of not being able to just _be_ , every second they spend apart now that they’re allowed to have what they always wanted is torture.

“How was it?” Alex questions eagerly, his face lighting up the small screen. “I bet it went perfectly.”

“I think I did well,” Michael replies bashfully, never one to be gentle with himself. “But we will have to wait for the results. I just want to go back home.”

“Only two more days to go, and you’ll be done,” Alex promises. “I will be here waiting for you. We could go out, have a nice dinner?”

“I’d rather stay home and just, I don’t know, lay low for a while,” Michael says slowly. They’re both learning to voice their needs and wants, and it’s an exercise in communication Michael isn’t about to fail. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Whatever you need,” Alex smiles on the screen, wrinkles showing up in the corners of his eyes. 

Michael keeps talking as he walks, his steps leading him to the caravan parking where he’s staying with the Airstream until his exams are over. He refused to take Alex’s money to pay for a hotel or even a room in a shared apartment — Michael wanted to do this on his own terms, and staying in the Airstream gave him a sense of familiarity and safety that no hotel room could ever match. And if heʼs stuffed some of Alex’s old t-shirts underneath the pillow he no longer uses while he's in Roswell — Alex’s house having become his home now — well, it’s nobodyʼs business but his own. 

Michael is taking a turn to the left, navigating the streets on autopilot, when he finally notices a weird pattern of shadows following him. He canʼt really hear footsteps in the busy streets, but he's got the feeling as though he’s being followed. He turns his head around, but it's difficult to tell with the people crowding the streets. However, he thinks he sees the same man from the coffee shop at some point as he whirls around to keep walking. The dread has taken his stomach hostage, and now Michael wishes he hadn’t brought the Airstream — if he were to enter a hotel, he could tell the receptionist that he thinks he's being stalked. 

“Michael, you okay?” 

He snaps his head down to face Alex on the screen once again. “Yeah, I thought I heard something.” 

“You’re in a busy street,” Alex laughs. 

“True,” he acquiesces. He doesn’t want to worry his boyfriend; he manages to keep walking without whipping his head around for a few more steps, until all of a sudden the parking shows up in front of him. “Iʼm at the Airstream now,” he announces. “I’ll disconnect now, and will call back after I’ve showered, okay?”

“If you don’t fall asleep before that,” Alex jokes. Michael groans. It’s only happened once, but he knows Alex will never let go of it. “If you don’t call back, it’s fine. We will talk tomorrow.”

“Love you, Alex,” Michael whispers as he enters his Airstream and locks the door.

“Love you too, Michael.”

The call ends, and Michael drops the phone on top of the bunk bed. He sighs and approaches the window. Surely, he can see the man outside, this time lighting up a cigarette without looking up from the lighter. He feels anger bubbling up inside of him. He takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself when he feels some of the mugs and the kitchenware vibrating with his powers. He can’t make a display of alienness now, or at least not here.

Michael makes a decision in a split second, walking back towards the door. He’s going to confront the man — he will go as far as using his powers to shoo him away if that’s the extent needed here.

He opens the door forcefully, and then the light outside turns to black all of a sudden.


End file.
